53 Comments

I watched the C-SPAN show live and really admire your ability to handle some of those questions! It’s clear that you are a fantastic teacher. My face would have betrayed me 😳

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Fantastic interview, loved every minute of it. Thank you for your positive contribution to an ugly landscape. I debate pulling my attention away from politics so often, because it's emotionally taxing. But you've been able to keep me optimistic. My favorite theme you enforce is critical thinking on all sides.

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I completely agree, Rachel!!

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Excellent interview. Love how you gently remind people that others have different priorities and aren’t necessarily voting against their own interests.. and strongly agree to in order to understand, we must listen with genuine curiosity and that calling people names or insulting them won’t change their minds.. thank you!

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Your answer about Abraham Lincoln choosing hope & with malice towards none is a lifeline & source of strength for many of us right now. Thank you, great interview.

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I watched the C-Span show and you were fantastic. I so appreciate your ability to be factual, clear and concise. Loved the answer on how you get people to change their minds by listening to what they are saying and where they are coming from first and not by telling them they are wrong. So good!!

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I watched you on Saturday. Fabulous job fielding live questions from sometimes cantankerous people! And your week with NATO is like a dream come true. Hope you and Lauren Cella connect for future collaboration, too 🥰

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Wonderful job articulating important concepts throughout your responses to questions during this show!! I absolutely appreciate the consistent respect you show to all participants; and I love how quickly you can hone in on the point of a question and provide relatively simple answers to what are quite complex topics. Kudos!!!

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Awesome interview!!! I’m wondering at what point you will be famous enough to start seeing versions of yourself on SNL 😜

Seriously though, love the way you share and especially what you said at the end. I also had to think - maybe I won’t ever be like Lincoln but I could definitely be like that couple who took him in. Thanks for inspiring.

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I just finished watching and I am beyond impressed. But more importantly, I’m encouraged. I am afraid of Trump being reelected and truly, that’s the main point from where most of my concerns stem. I believe character matters and I cannot give those who set character aside for an (implausible) agenda (Project 2025) a free pass like many of us did in 2016, but I can plainly see that voices like yours, the work you’ve done, has done more to guide people toward critical thought and context than the othering that is still popular. I do believe democracy as we know it is dancing on the head of a pin, but I feel hopeful.

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Well said!

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So good. Love the energy and optimism you exude. It's contagious and so appreciated. You inspire me to do better.💜

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Just watched the interview. I can echo everyone's kudos! You answer the questions clearly and don't dodge the difficult ones. Can I nitpick? When speaking about why someone will vote for a candidate you said the MAGA voters would stick with Trump because they think voting for him is in their best interest and their priorities are different than what the democrats would think are priorities. When you spoke about why democrats would choose to vote for Biden, despite his possible cognitive lapses, you said that people will vote for their best interests but you also said the democratic voters will vote for what is in the best interest of the country. They would trust whom Biden appoints to lead and it would be best for the country. While I cannot vote for Trump, as a long time Republican, I can see how some people think that Trump's stated policies would SEEM to be best for the country - securing our borders, making other nations pay more for foreign policy projects, loosening regulations on business so the economy can flourish... Anyone can debate whether he would do those things, or even if they are actually good policy, but I don't think that all of his followers are just following a personality cult. I think some voters who choose Trump think it is best for the country. Maybe you think that also, just did not say it in the interview.

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Appreciate hearing this viewpoint, Thank you!

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I so admire your ability to talk kindly with people about politics. You are a roll model for me - I struggle with leaving emotion out of political conversations and responding in a like manner when people ask me questions. Thank you Sharon for keeping the bar raised!!

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I watched your C-Span live and you did such a great job! It’s so hard to answer questions off the cuff and you do it so effortlessly. (Also…hoping your interview is with my state Representative and future NC Attorney General- Jeff Jackson 😊)

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Loved watching on Saturday and was so impressed at your ability to answer questions so well in real time even when they were either about hot button issues or worded in ways to illicit a reaction. Congratulations and job well done! 😁

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I just watched the interview today. BRAVO! I love how you spoke to the concerns of voters " on both sides", and gently reminded them that those on the other side were people, too. We so need to get back to that way of thinking

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Enjoyed the interview thank you for sharing it. You truly are a roll model of n how to keep calm and answer with kindness. It is a lesson we need so much and I also need to be reminded too. Looking forward to your book and seeing you live in San Francisco! 😘

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